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“There are Borderland issues to deal with, two fairies you’ll be honoring with war cuffs and brunch—oh, and a Solstice invite you need to respond to.”

I’m already beginning to stand. I really need to figure out what I should do with my free time now that I’m marooned in the Otherworld.

“Wait,” Des says to me.

I turn to look at him.

“Would you like to join me?”

After what I saw yesterday in his throne room? I shake my head. “Have fun.”

I head out of the room, leaving the King of the Night and his oldest friend to run the realm without me.

Chapter 8

I almost cloister myself away in Des’s chambers.Almost. But the prospect of hours and hours of boredom keeps me from getting too comfortable in his rooms.

So, after changing into the most badass outfit I can find (leather pants, knee-high boots, and a wing-friendly corset top that I get hopelessly tangled in becausestraps), I decide to explore the palace. I might not have my emotional armor back in place, but damn, a good outfit does half the job.

Today’s stop: the Night Kingdom’s main library. After stumbling around asking for directions, I finally find it. Like the rest of Somnia, it’s made from distinctive white stone, its roof the green blue of oxidized copper.

I climb up the grand stairs leading to the building, the pale stone glittering in the moonlight. The lamps that line the stairs spark with warm light.

And inside…oh, inside. The arched ceilings are lined with painted tile, copper chandeliers hanging between them. Everywhere I look in the cavernous room, beautiful fae objects are on display, from a huge tapestry that seems to shimmer different colors in the light to a marble sculpture of two winged fairies locked in battle.

Correction: amovingmarble sculpture. The statues make grinding noises as their stone muscles move.

I walk up to the sculpture and stare at it. Several seconds in, one of the statues turns its head, scowling at me.

“They don’t like being gawked at.”

I nearly jump at the voice. A man stands at my side, gazing at me rather than the sculpture.

“If they don’t like being stared at, why are they on display?” I ask.

He presses his lips together, and for the life of me, I can’t tell if I’ve just irritated or amused him.

“Do you need any help?” he asks.

“Uh, no, just looking.”

He bows his head. “Please find me if you need assistance, my lady, and welcome to the Night Kingdom Library.”

I watch as the fairy walks away.

That was…nice. He called meladyand didn’t ogle at my wings the way I feared he might.

Tentatively, I pass the sculpture and move deeper into the library. Here there are rooms upon rooms and floors upon floors of books. Fairies sit at tables between them, flipping through volumes.

Like the library I was in earlier, this one smells like old parchment, leather, and cedar.

Choosing a room at random, I pace the aisles. Out of sheer curiosity, I pull a book bound in light-blue silk from the shelves before flipping it open.

I don’t know what I expected to find, but another language wasn’t it. I skim through several pages, but they’re all written in the same archaic script.

“It’s Old Fae.”

I let out a squeak, nearly dropping the book.